Thousands protested in Turkey on Saturday calling for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to reverse his decision to withdraw from a binding treaty to prevent and combat violence against women.
In Istanbul’s Kadıköy neighbourhood, protesters with purple flags and banners took to the streets chanting: “We are not scared, we are not afraid. We shall not obey.”
Other smaller protests were held in the capital Ankara and the south-western city of İzmir, according to media reports.
Forged in Istanbul, the Council of Europe convention pledged to prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence and promote equality. Turkey, which signed the accord in 2011, saw a rise in femicides last year.
No reason was provided for the withdrawal, but officials in the Turkish president’s ruling AK party had said last year the government was considering pulling out amid a row over how to curb growing violence against women.
“The guarantee of women’s rights are the current regulations in our bylaws, primarily our constitution. Our judicial system is dynamic and strong enough to implement new regulations as needed,” the family, labour and social policies minister, Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk, said on Twitter, without providing a reason for the move.
Many conservatives in Turkey say the treaty provisions undermine family structures, encouraging violence. They are also hostile to the principle of gender equality in the Istanbul convention and see it as promoting homosexuality, given its principle of non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
Critics of the withdrawal have said it would put Turkey further out of step with the values of the European Union, which it remains a candidate to join.
They argue the treaty, and legislation approved in its wake, need to be implemented more stringently.
Turkey is not the first country to move towards withdrawing from the accord, known as the Istanbul convention and considered the most significant international agreement on the issue of violence against women.
Poland’s highest court scrutinised the treaty’s provisions after a cabinet member said Warsaw should quit the pact, which the nationalist government considers too liberal. Among the 47 Council of Europe members, a dozen have failed to ratify the treaty, including the United Kingdom; of that dozen, two – Russia and Azerbaijan – have also never signed.
Erdoğan has condemned violence against women, including saying this month that his government would work to eradicate it. But critics say his government has not done enough to prevent femicides and domestic violence.
The protesters in Istanbul held up portraits of women murdered in Turkey, one reading: “It is women who will win this war.” Protester Banu said she was “fed up with the patriarchal state”. “I’m fed with not feeling safe. Enough!” she told AFP.
“We feel it’s the end of the road,” said 43-year-old Cigdem Karadag. “The convention was not implemented properly, but cancelling it is another level. I came here with my daughters because I want to raise them in an educated society so they will not be murdered, they will live freely and have equal rights.”
Turkey does not keep official statistics on femicide. World Health Organization data has shown 38% of women in Turkey are subject to violence from a partner in their lifetime, compared with about 25% in Europe.
Ankara has taken measures such as tagging individuals known to resort to violence and creating a smartphone app for women to alert police, which has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.
Erdoğan’s decision comes after he unveiled judicial reforms this month that he said would improve rights and freedoms, and help meet EU standards. Turkey has been a candidate to join the bloc since 2005, but access talks have been halted over policy differences and Ankara’s record on human rights.
A German foreign ministry spokesperson said the move sent the wrong signal to Europe and the women of Turkey. The French foreign ministry also condemned the move. “This decision will primarily affect Turkish women, to whom France expresses all its solidarity,” it said in a statement.